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Unlike the majority of MVP awards in other sports, the Heisman Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding player, not most valuable. Value should not be taken into consideration when giving this award, and team success should not be a factor in the decision.
If factoring in team success, Gerhart still should not be penalized because he still averaged 109 yards and 2 touchdowns in Stanford’s 4 losses this year. And don’t forget that he played with a freshman quarterback, meaning teams stacked the run against him every week..
In their biggest (most important) games he did as follows:
@ AZ – 123 yards 2 TD
ORE – 223 yards 3 TD
@ USC – 178 yards 3 TD
CAL – 136 yards 4 TD
ND – 205 yards 3 TD
And here’s his highlight reel:
Ingram, on the other hand, completely disappeared in a near-loss to arch-rival Auburn, rushing for only 30 yards on 16 carries. Other rushing totals include 50 against Arkansas and 56 against Florida International (but 47 receiving yards).
McCoy played against the worst competition of anyone and padded his stats against absolutely terrible teams. His biggest games came against the following teams:
Wyoming (6-6 in Mountain West) – 337 yards, 3 TD
UCF (8-4 in Conference USA) – 470 yards 2 TD
Texas A&M (6-6 record) – 304 yards 4 TD and 175 yards rushing 1 TD Kansas (5-7 record) – 396 yards 4 TD
In their biggest games, he did this..
Texas Tech – 205 yards 1 TD 2 INT
Oklahoma – 127 yards 1 TD 1 INT
Oklahoma St – 171 yards 1 TD
Nebraska – 184 yards 0 TD 3 INT
With Tebow, his numbers just don’t stack up against the rest of the guys (7 games under 200 yards passing)
Suh is really the wildcard.. His stats look like the stats of a linebacker and a defensive end COMBINED. 82 tackles (47 unassisted), 12 sacks, and 23 tackles for loss (which, to me, has the same effect as a sack).
Overall, here is how I’d rank the Heisman candidates
- Toby Gerhart
- Ndamukong Suh
- Mark Ingram
- Colt McCoy
- Tim Tebow
Watch Toby Gerhart play in the Sun Bowl and check for deals on 2009 Sun Bowl Tickets
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Good article Shane, thanks for writing it.
My one critique is that you need to convince me more on why TOBY deserves it… so I added the highlight reel for ya.
Personally, as a defensive-minded person, I am totally for Suh winning it, but dream on..
Wow Shane, how did you get in my mind and beat me to this? I have been arguing these same points all week. In my opinion, McCoy and Tebow didn’t even deserve an invitation. If not for their names/schools, the Heisman would have been three invitees only as it has been recently. I’m also pulling for Gerhart, but Suh is my two man. I want Suh to end up in a Brown’s uni next year so I’d rather he not have that Heisman curse. It’ll be enough that he’ll have the drafted by the Browns curse.
He’s the most unlikely Heisman candidate of recent memory because a)he’s a white running back, and b)his name is “Toby”. He’s got my vote.